Pirates of the Burning Sea Q&A with Russell Williams at gamebunny

Flying Lab's Executive Producer fields a handful of queries relating to the nautical-themed online world project.

By IGN Staff

Debuting today, a short session with the developer, a co-founder of the company, includes this response in which he cites some key features of the endeavor:

The ships in general are amazing, from the graphics to the sailing experience to the real-time tactical naval combat. Playing the captain of a sailing ship in the 18th century is a very, very different thing from any other MMORPG on the market. It's a mix of RPG, action, and sim that makes for really fun game play.

Beyond that, we expect our interpersonal reputation system and international relations system to be very popular. The actions you take in the world influence the course of global events. The cumulative effect of player actions can lead to Spain and France going to war or becoming staunch allies against the British. The more organized players get, the more impact they can have.

By design, the game is intended for those players who have broadband connections. Online distribution is planned via Valve's Steam technology, with launch currently projected to occur sometime in the fourth quarter of 2004. - Valandil